Education Inside

Having been a counselor in a Texas community college for the past thirty one years I can readily state that I am thrilled to still be able to gather new ideas from colleagues who are decades my junior.

Mr. Filine in his book assesses the current state of higher education for the masses without “dissing” those who labor in the profession and the same time slyly encourages us to reach out beyond the “way we taught.”

Without explicitly stateing so I found between the lines that perhaps teachers are becoming superfluous unless we understand the context of the educational process in respect to technology, popular culture, and learning taking place quite literally at the speed of light. He alludes to this on p.56, “…(teachers) play a complementary part in the symphony of learning.” This metaphore flashes to mind the spanish word for teacher, maestro.

Mr. Filene’s chapter on mandatory class discussion addresses the universal entity that all students bring to class which is fear. By teachers confronting this head on we take a quantum step in the learning/teaching equation. Empowering the student is directly proportional to empowering the teacher and it is the key to the entire process.

I have a sign on my office door in two inch bold print that states, “UNAUTHORIZED LEARNING NOT ALLOWED.” Fortunately in our electronic world it is not possible to adher to this dicate. To wit I stumbled across Mr. Filene’s book by going on line, looking at the NY Times home page, clicking on the an educational story, referencing a book mentioned in said article, being exposed to another book on the Amazon site, and then thirty minutes and $50 later having to wait a whole three days for my three ordered books.

The tag line from _Glen Gary Glen Ross_ was “ABC”, always be closing. The tag line from _the Joy of Teaching_ in my view is “ABL”…must I say what the L denotes.

Thanks for a great read.
Rating: 5 / 5

I’m and Adult Education graduate student who purchased this book (along with McKeachie’s- “Teaching Tips”) for our Methods course. Our Prof selected severval books because there isn’t one good book on the market yet for Methods that incorporates all that we are learning from these various books on life long learning. It is an excellant guide toting reciprocal learning between student and teacher. It is straight forward and down to earth without all that “academitius” we suffer from with the scientific reads. Been out of college for 3 decades and coming to read read a guide that is right to the point makes it a god send so you can turn around and apply it to your everyday work situations.
Rating: 5 / 5

After grading your hundredth paper or reading endless homework assignments, it can be easy to forget the joy and rewards of teaching. This excellent guide renews the spirit of the teacher. Teaching really is a calling and this book affirms the joy that is available for those who share their life and knowledge with others. As well as the joy of learning from others! Teaching is really receiving from the students, watching them grow, and seeing the gifts of learning! Inspiring book for teachers!
Rating: 5 / 5